The present invention relates to a connector for connecting, in particular, a harness to a stringed instrument such as a guitar.
A conventional connector is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 59-5168. The disclosed connector is of the push button type and is constructed so that an engaging member, which includes a ball, extends at a right angle relative to an axial direction of the engaging member. To form the connection, the ball is inserted into and engaged by a receiving member. Due to the necessity of several parts, the construction of the connector is complicated. Also, another problem is that a push button is subject to being inadvertently actuated during playing of the instrument which leads to disengagement of the connector.
In view of the problems associated with the above connector, a connector as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 63-168491 has been proposed. This connector has a manually operated engaging member fixed to a fastening end of a harness and a receiving member fixed to a stringed instrument. The connector is adapted to engage with or disengage from the receiving member by operation of the manually operated engaging member. The connector also includes a rotatable knob for establishing a connection between the engaging member and the receiving member. Accordingly, the problems encountered with the push button type connector are avoided. However, since the construction of the connector requires that the engaging member be actuated by rotation of the knob, it is therefore necessary to provide a drive transmission mechanism between the knob and the engaging member to convert rotation of the knob into opening and closing movements of the engaging member. Accordingly, the connector is a complex mechanism which requires several parts. Such a construction results in unacceptably high manufacturing costs. Also, the size of the connector cannot be reduced.